Thoughts About The Dudding Hill Line
A friend, who is an expert on the Dudding Hill line or DHL has just e-mailed me after reading my post about Old Oak Common. He says that one of the conditions of the planning permission given for the Radlett Freight Terminal, is that the DHL is opened up, so it can take container traffic. There is a problem at the bridge-cum-tunnel at Harlesden.
I have traced the DHL on the map from where it starts at Cricklewood to past Old Oak Common and on to Acton.
Significantly, its northern end is by Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which is being expanded to form part of the new Brent Cross Cricklewood town centre, for which it is proposed to add a new railway station.
So the line effectively runs between two of London’s biggest and most-needed housing and commercial developments at Brent Cross and Old Oak Common.
I would suspect that there are opportunities for new stations at several places like Neasden and Harlesden.
This whole area of London is rapidly building up a set of questions about public transport that must be answered.
1. How do freight trains from London Gateway and Felixstowe come along the North London line and reach the Radlett Freight Terminal? It’s not clear if it is possible for trains to switch to the Midland Main line in the area of West Hampstead. If not, then that is a possible new piece of infrastructure, that would allow the movements between the ports and Radlett.
2. It has been proposed to put a station at North Acton on the North London line to link with the Central line. Surely, if Old Oak Common is to be built on the Overground, then the interchange to the Underground, would probably be incorporated in that station.
3. Should the Gospel Oak to Barking service be extended past Gospel Oak? As in a few years, this service will be run by new electric trains, which will probably be the Overground’s Class 378, to terminate these services at either Old Oak Common, Clapham Junction or Richmond, would surely make the running of a more frequent service on the GOB easier.
4. If passenger services are to be run on the DHL, then surely this line must be electrified, as this would allow the Overground to run a unified fleet. It would also enable trains to proceed up the Midland Main line, if that was thought to be a worthwhile thing to do. It would also allow freight trains from the west and eventually Southampton to run to Radlett and the north, without a chanmge of motive power en route.
5. If the DHL is electrified then it would probably be using overhead wires, as it effectively links two lines so equipped. So should the short section of the North London line to the west of Acton Central be changed to overhead wires rather than third rail? It would make for a tidier railway, but as the trains are dual voltage, there is no urgency to re-electrify!
The planners in the London Overground part of Transport for London, must be enjoying themselves playing with the best train set in London.
The more I think about all this, especially after seeing how Hackney has responded to being Overgrounded, I come to one conclusion.
If Old Oak Common and Brent Cross stations go ahead, then the Dudding Hill Line must be electrified to take freight trains and an Overground-style passenger train service.
But then what do I know about running trains?
The Ugly Duckling Is Coming To The Aid Of HS2
I’ve called the Overground an ugly ducking that is turning in to a swan before and today, it would appear that it is getting the chance to help out the troubled and unloved HS2. A study has been announced on the Global Rail News website entitled Overground Station For Old Oak Common. Here’s the start of the report.
WSP has been appointed to begin the next stage of planning for a new London Overground station at Old Oak Common.
The consultant is to carry out a Grip 3 study of three options with the hope of establishing the best solution to connect Overground services with the proposed HS2 and Crossrail interchange.
An interchange station at Old Oak Common would certainly make it easier for the good burghers of Hackney and other forgotten areas to access HS2 and Heathrow Airport.
But surely compared to the billions being spent on Crossrail and HS2, a simple interchange station, with links to the Overground, would just be small change. Wikipedia says this.
Proposals being considered by Transport for London include a scheme to realign the routes of the West London and North London line around the Old Oak Common site to create a new London Overground interchange station. The proposal envisages diverting the NLL Richmond route to curve around the eastern side of Old Oak Common, and re-routing the WLL to branch west south of the Mitre Bridge before curving north along a short section of the Dudding Hill Line to join the West Coast Main Line. New platforms serving both the NLL and WLL would be built on the southern side of Old Oak Common, adjacent to Wormwood Scrubs. Alternative versions of this scheme also consider cheaper options such as terminating the WLL at Old Oak Common or two separate London Overground stations.
But perhaps the great and the good don’t want to allow the various plebs and hoi polloi better transport links. They may have also noted that a new station would give better access to Wormwood Scrubs Prison for visitors and escapees.
If Old Oak Common is created as a major interchange, then surely the Gospel Oak to Barking services of the Overground, should be extended at least to the new station. And what about the Dudding Hill line, that passes through the area. Could it finally have found a use except for the odd freight train?
All of this says to me that an Overground station at Old Oak Common is a no-brainer, but then politicians don’t do no-brainers.
Enjoying The Sun On The Overground
I went to Richmond on the Overground and I caught this picture of a lady sunning herself, whilst waiting for a train on the eastbound platform of the North London line.
Enjoying The Sun On The Overground
As the line goes roughly east-west, quite a few eastbound platforms get lots of sun. I could have been caught enjoying the sun at several times in the past.
Try sunbathing on the Underground!
The Overground Advantage
I think that the London Overground has a tremendous advantage over other rail lines that are being developed. Look at this picture of the new extended platform on Willesden Junction station.
An Extended Platform At Willesden Junction
The platform has been extended for the new five car trains which will start to run later this year. It would appear it has been a simple job, as there was nothing in the way of the extra platform.
Most of the developments in progress on the Overground, like the lengthening of platforms and the addition of shelters and small shops for coffee etc., seem to not require too much work, as most of the stations seem to have been built fairly well, with longer platforms, than are currently used. So some of the lost space is just being regained.
But also remember that many of these stations had been neglected for decades before they were incorporated into the Overground.
So they have the great advantage that any money spent shows a tremendous improvement.
It’s a bit like buying a wreck of a house, which looks so much better after you’ve cleaned out the previous owner’s junk and painted the front door.
So perhaps other lines in London and the wider UK could benefit from the sort of procedures that are being applied to the London Overground. In truth, I’ve come across quite a few stations across the UK, like Middlesbrough, Huyton, Bexhill, Wigan and Hartlepool, that have been made much more attractive for passengers without breaking the bank.
After all, if you have clean stations with good facilities and the trains have comfortable seats and they are clean and on time, you will probably go some way to increasing the number of passengers.
My worry about this lengthening of London Overground trains from four to five cars, together with longer and better stations, is going to be far too successful, in getting others to use the route.
At least though, the Class 378 trains can probably be lengthened again to six-car trains, by the simple process of sticking another carriage in the middle.
From Upminster To Romford
When I heard this morning, that the Romford to Upminster line was to get a new train, I thought it was something I should visit. So I took the District line to Upminster, used the branch to get to Romford and came back to Liverpool Street on the first train. These pictures tell the story.
Both trains two and three were Class 315. The train to Romford was surprisingly busy for about twelve o’clock. They both sounded to be in reasonable mechanical condition and the only problem with the trains, is the awful pink colour around the doors.
It looks like these trains will be sent to Wales after refurbishment. So perhaps the Welsh can choose another colour scheme.
New Train For Romford To Upminster
Until this morning, I didn’t know there was a train line from Romford to Upminster. But there is and it has a comprehensive Wikipedia page, which says it generally has a half hour service run by an elderly Class 315.
Today though, one of my trawls picked by the news that Transport for London has asked for tenders for new trains for the West Anglia and Gospel Oak to Barking services. The story is on Global Rail News. This the last paragraph.
Thirty of the new trains will replace the current West Anglia stock, which will undergo a deep clean and rebranding. Eight more will go the newly-electrified Gospel Oak to Barking route, with the remaining unit going into service on the Romford to Upminster line.
So the Romford to Upminster line gets the 39th train.
This section is on Wikipedia about the future uses of Class 315.
As most duties of the 315s will be taken over by new Class 345 Aventra trains once Crossrail is built, it has been suggested that the 315s could be cascaded to the Wales and Borders passenger franchise to be used on Valley Lines services in the Cardiff area following electrification.
If most of the class do go to Wales, it will be a long way to move the single train on the Romford to Upminster line for servicing.
I can only see one reason why the order will not go to Bombardier to deliver some more of the excellent Class 378 and that would be because the company didn’t feel it wanted to bid.
Some Transport Related April Fools
This year was particularly good for April Fools in the papers and around the Internet. The Times today even has a discussion on the Letters Page today, about which of their stories yesterday were real.
There were three transport-related stories, that I found.
1. Wombles fan plays April Fool’s Day joke in Kensal Green
2. Councils at loggerheads over Croxley Rail Link viaduct colour scheme
3. Like A Bat Out Of Crossrail
It is good to see that gentle humour isn’t dead yet!
The Shard Mucks Up My Journey Home
I had lunch today in Carluccio’s at Canary Wharf and afterwards went to the excellent Waitrose there to get some shopping that is difficult to find closer to home.
As the DLR wasn’t running due to engineering works, I decided to get the Jubilee line home. I can either change to the Overground at Canada Water station or go to London Bridge station and get a 141 bus home.
But on windy days like this, only a large person would go via London Bridge, as the wind around the Shard makes the bus station a rather unpleasant place.
So I used the Overground!
An Historic Station On The Overground
Wapping station on the Overground is more or less unique. It is built into the access shaft that was used to build the Thames Tunnel, so must in some ways be the railway station in the world, with the oldest structure or building. It certainly has lots of brickwork and other interesting structures.
It’s also a good place to go to see trains going through the Thames Tunnel.
I sometimes wonder, what the well-known resident of Wapping, Alf Garnett would have thought of the Overground. Compared to the 1960s, the journey that Alf would take from Wapping to Upton Park to see West Ham United, is the same, but he would probably be complaining about the new trains on both lines, where you can walk from one end to the other.
The Anonymous Widower 